New MACC women's coach Haden hitting the recruiting trail hard

Chuck Embree

Wednesday

Jul 11, 2018 at 11:15 AM

Since her hiring in mid-June to replace Chad Killinger as head women's basketball coach at Moberly Area Community College, Hana Haden on Wednesday said she has been putting much mileage on her vehicle while hitting the recruiting trail hard in an effort to fill her first Lady Greyhounds roster for the 2018-19 season.

“It's been really crazy. I've been traveling and visiting with prospects a whole lot the past two to three weeks,” said Haden, who grew up in Springfield and recently served as an assistant women's coach at NCAA Division I Lamar University at Beaumont, Texas.

“I'm pretty excited about the girls that we already have, and the ones that I recently signed but have not been made official. I'm on my way visiting a couple of more that I hope will choose to come to Moberly,” Haden said. “ I can't say who the new recruits are just yet until their paper work goes through all the proper channels.”

Coach Haden said she is hopeful that both the National Junior College Athletic Association and MACC administrators approve her recent signings by the time the MACC Board of Trustees conduct their monthly business meeting in a couple of weeks.

“I also have interviewed and found two persons interested in being my assistant basketball coaches and I am awaiting approval from the college first before I announce their names and introduce them to everyone,” Haden added.

Haden becomes the 15th women's head coach in the 41-year history of the Lady Greyhounds program. Last season, MACC women went undefeated in the regular season winning 32 consecutive games en route to earning a NJCAA Division I Region 16 and Missouri Community College Athletic Conference titles. Moberly qualified for the NJCAA Women's National Tournament but lost its opening game.

Two reserve players from that team will return to MACC and play for coach Haden; Chrishey Wilkes (6'0, St. Louis) and Allisyn Rhone (5'2, Warrensburg).

Prior to his departure, former coach Killinger (147-71 record in 7 yrs.) signed four new recruits. However, coach Haden said 6-foot-2 Lauren Boyd, who graduated last May form Cardinal Ritter College Prep School in St. Louis, chose not to attend MACC upon learning that Killinger was not returning.

Coach Haden said the other three kept their commitments to attend MACC and play for the Lady Greyhounds next season. Those three are the following:

- Katelyn Clark is a 6'2 center has agreed to transfer from Tennessee State University, and she is a 2017 graduate from Cahokia High School, Ill. In high school, Clark averaged 12.1 points, 9.6 rebounds, four blocks and shot 63.8 percent from the field during her senior year.

- Taylor Lawson-Hicks is a 5'10 guard from Whitfield High School in St. Louis that helped her team earn a third place finish at the 2018 MSHSAA Class 3 girls state championships. Lawson-Hicks averaged 13.3 points, 4.7 rebounds and made 38-percent of her shots from behind the arc during her past three seasons. She totaled 1,117 career points.

- Darryn Zeigler, a 5'11 guard from Shaker Heights H.S. In Cleveland, Ohio. Killinger had reported that Zeigler is ranked 65th among high school guards across the country according to ESPN Hoopgurlz. A four year varsity starter, Zeigler averaged 15.1 points, 4.8 rebounds, 2.7 assists and 1.5 steals per outing as a senior.

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